Searching For the Darkness (abandoned)
by RebelzHeart
Summary: When Aoko and Kaito move in with the Mouri's during a transfer student program, Conan's instantly on the edge. The Men in Black seem to be more active than ever, children in his area are going missing, and the mysterious Kaito Kid has seemed to take a hiatus on his heists... As the mysteries pile up, Conan seems more trapped than ever.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I wrote this ages and ages ago, and never got past the first two chapters. I decided to give it another shot lately so my apologies for the awful writing style. It'll hopefully get better, but no promises.

 _There's another world inside of me that you may never see,  
There are secrets in this life that I can't hide,  
Somewhere in this darkness…_

Conan's eyes snapped open and he sat up with a start, panting as he shook the remnants of the dream from his mind.

It was strange. Even though he was always catching criminals and finding the lifeless bodies of the murdered it hadn't ever effected him… and it was only now that murders had paused in occurrence was he terrified.

No—murders were still happening. He knew that they _had_ to be—the 'mysterious' disappearances had been confirmed by Haibara to be works of the Black Organization.

Children at the age of 5-8 mysteriously disappearing… was this his fault? It must have been. The Black Organization had become desperate enough to draw this much attention to themselves, taking the risk and gambling—no, it wasn't a gamble.

The Black Organization was much too cautious to gamble. Their untraceable methods couldn't have been based off of wild gambles.

They _knew_ that he would try to find them. They knew who he was, and what he would do… no wonder Haibara was so terrified of them.

 _I'll catch them. At least one of them._ Conan thought to himself with a frown. _Sooner or later justice will prevail. Now then—_

He was interrupted by the loud _BRIIIINNNNGGGGGG!_ of his alarm clock.

"Conan?" Ran's curious voice drifted up the stairs as the alarm clock continued to ring. She knocked on the door lightly. "Are you alright?"

She must've meant at the moment, or asking if he felt physically okay but Conan's pessimistic answer came almost instinctively.

 _No. I'm stuck in a child's body, I'm trying to catch an organization that is more slippery than water and I'm demoted to a stupid kid who has to knock people out to solve cases. Plus I may possibly be kidnapped—at least then I might get a clue about the Black Organization. Do you really think that I'm okay?_

But it was just like Ran to worry about someone, careful about every little thing. And he had worried her far more than must have been allowed. He couldn't be selfish, not when it came to Ran, who was faithfully believing in him.

Conan notched his voice an octave higher and smiled cheerily even though Ran couldn't see him through the closed door. "Yup, I'm fine, Ran-neechan! I'm just testing to see how long the alarm will ring!"

 _Yeah right. That's about the stupidest lie that I've ever told._

"Okay, Conan-kun, but don't forget to come down soon or you'll be late for school!" Was Ran's quick reply and the sound of her footsteps started then slowly faded until all that was left was the loud ringing of the offensive alarm.

"Oh, shut up." Conan grumbled, slamming a hand on top of it with a growl. His eyes flickered over to his homework and he scowled. _My brain is dying doing this work. I can't take it any longer…_ It was pure torture, being forced to do things that he could do when he was half asleep or playing football (soccer).

He was interrupted mid thought/rant by the loud opening music of "Detective" Mouri's favorite cooking show and sighed.

 _What have I done to deserve this_? He wondered idly as he got dressed, pausing to stuff his quickly scrawled homework into his backpack.

He opened the door to the words _Kaitou Kid_ and froze.

"What-"

" _We are now interrupting the program with a very special news announcement!"_ A news reporter declared excitedly. _"Jirokichi Suzuki has once again challenged Kaitou Kid and offered one of the biggest amethysts of the world, the newly discovered_ Dream Flower _! The event will take place…"_

Conan leaned forwards unconsciously perking his ears as the television reporter informed them of all the details of old man Suzuki's challenge with a bright, falsely cheery voice that while sickened him had caught his interest in a second.

"Old man Suzuki hasn't challenged Kid." He murmured, thinking back on all the times that he had nearly captured the phantom thief—each time the thief escaping with a teasing smirk on his lips. "Kid will come as a challenge to _me_."

Because Kid's most brilliant acts were shown when Conan was around, something that he knew wasn't a coincidence.

And as he listened, despite himself, he began to smile. He was ready for this.

0o0o0o0o0

 _Somewhere in this darkness there's a light I cannot find…  
Maybe it's too far away…  
Or maybe I'm just blind._

"Kait- _oh_!" Aoko exclaimed, exasperated as she yanked the tablet out of Kaito's hands with a scowl. "What is it with your encouraging of this—this—criminal!? Kaitou Kid is just a big fat dummy who's going to be caught by my father any second now!"

"Like hell! That third-rate inspector couldn't catch Kid if Kid stood in front of him and turned himself in with a sign that said 'I'm Kid'!" Kaito replied hotly. "He'll just be like: Kid would never do something so stupid, I know kid… or something stupid like that."

"How dare you talk that way about my father!?" Aoko demanded angrily. "I'll have you know that he's one of the most amazing detectives ever! I'll bet that Kid's shaking at the thought of facing my father!"

Kaito snorted. _Yeah right. Like I'd be scared of that lame brainless police? Well, I can't exactly complain. With them as the sideshow the magic act is easy to control—but now that Old Man Jirokichi's challenged me…_

He allowed a smirk to settle on his features. Jirokichi's challenge wasn't a challenge to Kid anymore—it was the signal that Kid was challenging that little brat.

 _What trick shall I show little Tantei-kun this time?_ _Hm… tch, that jerk, making me think like this. Ah well… I hope that he enjoys the show._

"Oi, Kaito! Kaito! Are you even listening to me?" Aoko demanded, beginning to leak some murderous intent.

Kaito couldn't help but shiver involuntarily. "I—um—Kid's a coward, you're third rate inspector father scares him away, blah blah blah blah blah, right?"

Aoko raised an eyebrow.

"I mean um—the transfer student program?" Kaito guessed nervously.

Aoko sighed, knocking on his head. "You're so scatterbrained sometimes, you know. But yeah, the transfer program. Since we've been selected to go as the highest marked students in class we'll be transferring."

"Oh yeah…" Kaito paused. "We're living with other students, right? Who was mines again…?"

"Hm…" Aoko tilted her head to the side and frowned. "…To be honest, I'm not really sure!" She exclaimed, sounding amazed. "Well, I know mine. Mouri Ran-chan… and since she's in the transfer program, next month _she'll_ be coming to live with me!" She smiled cheerily. "I hope we get along well!"

"Why wouldn't you?" Kaito asked. "I mean, you're both girls—" He paused and leaned in closer to Aoko. "I mean… you _are_ a girl, right? You have such a flat chest, it's just that—"

Aoko's features turned bright red and suddenly a mop had seemed to magically appear in her hands.

 _So fast… too bad she's not into magic, she would have been really—_ "Gaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! I'm sorry, Aoko-chaaaaannnnn!" Kaito yelped as the desk split clean in two due to the force of the mop.

"DIE, KAITO!" Aoko screamed.

"Nakimori, Kuroba!" The teacher yelled, having apparently entered the room and started the lesson sometime during their fight. "Tell me the answer to _this_ question!" She pointed to the board.

"79!" Kaito yelled, not even bothering to turn his head as he caught the reflection of the question on the window.

"Th-that's right." The teacher sighed. "Nakimori! This question, here!"

"3884!" Aoko replied, face hot in fury. Then she paused for a second and frowned. "Or 5.032944e+132. It doesn't really matter."

The teacher sank to the floor, defeated, then realized something and sat up, pointing a finger triumphantly. "The transfer program!" She exclaimed happily, then began to hum. "Yes! For an entire month I'll get rid of these two and have a wonderful peaceful and quiet life! Oh how wonderous!"

The two in question didn't even notice her, they were so set on their 'battle'.

In the end Kaito managed to escape Aoko's wrath by taking out a card, pulling out a blue rose, and multiplying it to make a bouquet. Aoko smiled and sniffed it, then yelped in shock as a Jack-in-the-box popped out with a sign declaring Aoko's panties to be pink with white hearts.

And, of course, it started all over again. No surprise there. And so their ordinary life continued—soon they would realize just how much they had taken it for granted.

0o0o0o0o0o0

A smirk flitted onto his lips, and Kaito Kid lifted his cape grandly. "Ladies and Gentleman!" He called out with a wide smile. "Tonight you'll see an illusion of jewels…" He paused, and the crowd of Kid fans cheered even louder.

Conan scowled and gritted his teeth. "Just you wait." He growled. "I'll figure out your trick, no matter what."

"I've already stolen the jewel." Kid continued with a smug smirk. "But alas—I can't find it! I wonder why? Perhaps it's because…" He held up his hand and suddenly millions of bright purple jewels glowed around him in the air. "There are so many here!"

Kid hadn't stolen the jewel yet—what was his plan? This trick was so simple. Mirrors… Kid had arranged a bunch of mirrors and then made them reflect the true gem. But why such a simple trick? Conan frowned. It wasn't like Kid to do something so… so… not-elaborate.

 _What are you doing, Kid?_

He wondered, narrowing his eyes.

 _Is this a decoy or something? I see… he's trying to distract us from something. And I'm betting that if that's a decoy then the Kid up there isn't the real Kid at all… then where is he?_

It was obvious. The gem, of course. Conan gritted his teeth and turned to Nakamori to tug on his pant leg, only to find that Nakamori was already yelling at his men to _"Get to the jewel, you bunch of lunkheaded idiots! That's just a decoy to avert our attention! The real Kid is in the museum, after the jewel!"_

And Conan would have applauded Nakamori's wit and genius, had it been for the fact that Nakamori didn't have any. The officer, being the head of Kid's investigation team, should have long realized by now that sending in this mob of officers was only going to help Kid succeed in his plan even more.

Though, as it was a probably spur-of-the-moment thing, it was pretty smart. Conan wasn't stupid or arrogant enough to think that he could take care of Kid all by himself. The Phantom Thief had evaded him far too many times for him to think such a stupid thing.

…Or at least, _now_ he wasn't. Perhaps he had been arrogant enough to think that before—a long, long time ago, of course…

With a sigh, Conan dashed inside as well. It was obvious that Kid would dress up as a police officer this time. The numbers of the uniformed men were multiplying by the minute, and the number of possible suspects crowding around Conan was multiplying just as fast.

He swore under his breath, and made his way through the riptide-like rush of bodies with much difficulty.

"I swear—once this is over, I'm going to talk to Nakamori about this whole rushing- into- the- building- to- catch- Kid thing." Conan grumbled as he managed to make his way to the jewel, gasping for breath.

And stopped as he noticed something small and white fluttering in the air, swaying slowly as it descended onto the earth.

"Snow?" Someone—one of the perhaps more inexperienced or stupid officers—murmured in amazement as he held out his hand. There was a cry of shock, and a note of "It's not cold!".

"Paper." Conan heard somebody else identify the small white substance. "But why—? Kid has never distracted us by binding our vision like this before…"

He was smart, noticing this at the same time that Conan did. It wasn't like Kid to do this—or maybe it was and Conan simply hadn't seen enough of his work to know.

But he was pretty sure that it was uncharacteristic of the phantom thief, who craved attention and welcomed his audience with that infuriating grin of his.

Then Conan felt a small worm of doubt wriggle itself into his mind. What if this wasn't Kid's work? Could it be some other phantom thief? No… Kid always would come even if the heist note wasn't his, and he would publicly humiliate whoever had made the stupid decision to use the name of Kaitou Kid.

"Ahem." There was a loud cough, the papers seemed to attract to a spot on top of the case. In a swirl of paper, the Phantom Thief appeared. "Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, it would seem that you've made it past the opening act and have come to see the _real_ show!"

The 'real show', eh? What an irritating guy…

Kaito Kid lowered a hand and pointed to the gem in the case. "You see the jewel in there?" He asked cheerfully, held out his hand, and in a puff of pink smoke the gem vanished from the case. "Huh? Where's the gem? Oh wait a minute…"

Another puff of pink smoke, and the jewel appeared in his hand, gleaming brightly in the white glove.

"It's right there!" Kid cried, faking shock.

Nakamori finally burst through from the crowd and pointed an accusatory finger at Kid, growling. "You are going _down,_ Kid!" He cried angrily.

Kid blinked, and then a decidedly evil smirk grew over his features. "Nakamori-keibu! How wonderful of you to volunteer for my magic show!"

"Wh-what are you planning Ki—" The inspector was interrupted by smoke beginning to pour into the room from a small capsule on the ground.

There was a loud sound like a bell being rung, and in a flash the room was filled with white. Confused as to what Kid had done, the police officers looked around and let out identical cries of shock.

They were surrounded by Kids.

 _Really?_ Conan thought to himself. _This is just about the most common trick in the book… is this another distraction of his?_

He gritted his teeth and started to think.

0o0o0o0o0

It wasn't a distraction. Kaito could tell that that was what the little detective was thinking, but it wasn't one. He sighed. What was he so worried about anyways? This transfer program wouldn't _really_ effect his life…

 _Yes it will._ A rational, pesky little voice in the back of his head whispered. _And you know that it will. When you go live with someone else it'll get harder and harder to become Kid. And then you won't be able to draw out_ them _…_

 _No, it doesn't matter!_ Another part of him replied furiously. _Kaito Kid will go once two weeks from now, then at the end of the month! Going once every other week will be fine. It's not like I go on a heist every day, you know…_

"There you are." He was interrupted by Conan's voice, the boy's eyes narrowed. "What was that lame trick back there? What are you planning?"

"Lame?" Kaito repeated, placing a hand over his heart. "I'm wounded, tantei-kun. I tried to please you, you know."

"Well you weren't very good at coming up with new tricks." Conan snorted.

Kaito faltered. This trick wasn't good enough to make the news… no, was this really a trick that he wanted to be talked and gossiped about for two whole weeks? He should have planned better, but figuring out how to still be Kid had been on his mind and he had no solution.

Maybe he should tell little tantei-kun. Tell him that Kaito Kid would be out of commission for the next month.

Kaito gave the detective a light smile. "I was too busy trying to think of next time's trick." He replied cheerily. "This is just like last time… April fools, tantei-chan." He tossed held up the gem to the moonlight and squinted slightly, eyes widening when he heard the sound of breaking glass and a dull _thunk!_ as it hit the gem.

Conan's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then narrowed and he rushed forwards, kneeling at the ground as he picked up the small black object.

"No way..." Kaito heard the boy mutter. "The same as _theirs_? But I thought…" He quickly shook his head and turned to Kaito, eyes narrowing in contemplation. "Exactly how many enemies do you have?"

Kaito tilted his head to the side with an innocent smile. "What _ever_ are you talking about, tantei-kun?" He asked.

"Don't play dumb." Conan replied icily, and held up the small bullet in his hands.


	2. Chapter 2

Kaito froze as Conan held up the small black bullet. _Dammit… seriously?_ Now _, of all times to appear…_

Conan flipped the bullet around and narrowed his eyes, raising his eyes to meet Kaito's. "This bullet doesn't belong to the police." The boy calculated with eerie calm. _So that's his poker face… That's right, I've got to keep my poker face. I can't lost it now, of all times._ "They don't own this model of gun. I know some people who do, though… and they're not the types that you'd want to cross."

Kaito smirked. "What can I say? I seem to have a knack for angering brainless idiots… not my fault that I always outsmart them."

Conan's eyes narrowed even more, and showed Kaito the bullet. "This looks a lot like the model that an organization I'm hunting down is using. What did you do to make them try to kill you?"

Kaito smiled in response. "I would tell you, tantei-chan, but I don't think that now's the time." He responded coolly. "After all…" He shoved the seven year old's head down, gritting his teeth when a barrage of bullets shattered the glass. "…We're under attack at the moment."

"Tch." Conan's hand moved to his waist and he pulled out a small pistol. "There are roughly 10 people, and they're probably at the building opposite to this one… none of them are sniper specialists, though."

Kaito grinned in admiration despite himself. "You seem to know quite a bit about bullets and being shot at, tantei-chan. Did your earlier mysteries teach you about snipers and bullets?"

Conan scoffed. "Obviously. Unlike you, I'm actually competent at my job, you know. And like I said, the organization I'm targeting uses these…"

"Time's up to talk, brat." Snake's familiar growl cut into the conversation as the man smirked at them from the window. "Now, hand over the gem, Kid. Wouldn't want either you or the brat to get hurt, right?" The man smirked at them as he casually pointed the gun, his subordinates doing the same.

"My, my." Kaito smiled cheerily. "What a violent gesture, Snake. I didn't expect to see you here… usually you're too scared of me to show up, I think." His smile widened as he tossed Snake the gem, the man dropping it in surprise after fumbling around. "Don't worry, it's not Pandora… let's try again some other time, shall we?"

"Like I'm letting you run loose, and having that preposterous idea that _we're_ afraid of a simple con man like you." Snake replied icily as he leveled his gun, only to let out a cry of shock as a bullet hit dead center on his hat and knocked it off.

"I wouldn't recommend that." Conan threatened coolly, his eyes dark. "I can shoot this in the middle of a target every time. Meguire-keibu showed me a while ago. What is it that you're looking for… Pandora? It seems that your organization has a lot of goals, doesn't it?"

Snake's eyes narrowed. "Brat… you know about our organization? Then I suppose that I'd have to get rid of you as well—" And was cut off by a soccer ball to the face.

Kaito pouted. "You know, you could have let me do _something_ , tantei-chan. Just sitting around like this is seriously not cool, you know. In fact, it's pretty lame."

"Is this seriously the time for this?" Conan demanded and he pointed at the goons.

Kaito tilted his head to the side, pretending to be in deep thought, and then smiled widely. "Haha, I guess not. For now, I suppose that we need to run, tantei-chan."

"What a shocker." The boy replied dryly as Kaito picked him up and stepped on Snake's face, using the man as a lever as he leaped from the window, sailing over the stunned subordinates as he opened his hang glider. "Why are you carrying me, again?"

Kaito blinked down at Conan. "Ah, tantei-chan, why did you let me carry you? I can't exactly take you down to the ground, you know, and dropping you is obviously not an option either…" He frowned in deep concentration, and then laughed. "I'll just keep you around for a while, okay?"

Conan scowled. "Couldn't you do something more normal, like take me to my house?"

Kaito gasped in surprise. "You live near here, tantei-chan?" He asked in faux shock. "So _that's_ how you always get where old man Jirokichi challenges me! You live near the area!"

Conan's eyebrow twitched. "I appreciate the sarcasm." He said dryly, sarcasm dripping from his own voice like honey from a beehive. "But kindly take me to that apartment building with 'Mouri Detective Agency' written on the roof."

"Hai, hai." Kaito pouted. "You never let me have any fun."

"If I let you have fun, the country would be in mortal danger and chaos." Conan replied with a scowl. "Not quite how I'd like Japan to be."

"You wound me, tantei-chan." Kaito replied, placing a hand over his heart, before dropping to the ground, impressed when Conan didn't so much as scream at the sudden 90 degree plummet to the earth.

"Do you get a kick out of dangerous stunts?" The child wondered out loud as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Kaito replied dismissively as he turned his back to the kid. "I'm off, brat. See ya."

"Wait—!" The boy yelled, only for the cry to be lost in the wind as Kaito flew off. Conan kicked the roof's door. "And now I'm back to square one." He gave the bullet in his hands one last, irritated look, and scowled. _All this makes is more and more mysteries piling up…_

But that was alright. Because that just meant that there was more truth, even if he had to find it and dig it up from where it was hidden in the lies.

0o0o0o0o0

 _Thump, thump, thump_.

This. Was. The. Most. Boring. Thing. That. Had. Ever. Happened. To. Him.

 _Thump, thump, BONK!_

"I'm… so… bored…" Kaito moaned as he held out a hand, trying to reach out of the metaphorical hole that he had dug himself into. The hole was the boring bus ride of the student transfer program, and he had dug it by accepting and going onto this trip.

"Just let me diiie already…" Kaito moaned wearily as he lay his head on Aoko's shoulder. "I'm too tired to even do magic tricks…"

Aoko raised an eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips. "And too tired for your usual perverted mischief, I hope." She retorted angrily, in refusal to feel pity even for… well, maybe _especially_ for Kaito. "No skirt flipping?"

"Why would I need to flip your skirt?" Kaito mumbled into her shoulder, voice curious in confusion. "I already know that they're pink with lace and a white bow. Really, Aoko, little bows on underwear? At your age? And you brought the ones with the teddy bears on them, too… are you secretly a five year old, and that's why you've got no development on your chest?"

Killer intent began to thicken in the air as Aoko raised her broom, eyes narrowing in anger. "KAITO YOU PERVERT!" She screamed angrily, cheeks bright red as she brought the broom down. "Get ready to die—!"

The broom was stopped mid swing as Kaito grabbed it, a small smile on his lips. "I'd rather stay alive, thank you very much." He replied curtly, as a small puff of smoke ignited at the end of the broom, travelling up the broom until it completely covered it. There was a loud _POP!_ sound, and Kaito smiled cheerily at Aoko as the broom turned into a blue rose. "There, isn't that much prettier?" He asked, satisfied and arrogant as ever. "It much more fits a beauty like you."

Aoko turned bright red. "Kaito, if this is some kind of trick…"

"Why would I trick someone as sweet as this dear mademoiselle before me?" Kaito asked innocent as he handed Aoko a bouquet of red roses.

Startled, Aoko accepted them and buried the lower half of her face in them as she inhaled deeply, a light smile finding it's way to her features. "Thank you, Kaito." She mumbled.

Kaito grinned in response. "You're welcome, Aoko." He replied with an exaggerated bow as he kissed her hand.

A hand tapped at his shoulder.

"Hate to break the sweet moment between you two and all, kiddos." The bus driver informed him, not looking the least bit sorry. "But this is the last stop that the bus goes to and—"

"OH CRAP, WE MISSED OUR STATION!"

"BAKA KAITO! THIS IS YOUR FAULT FOR DISTRACTING ME AND TAKING UP MY ATTENTION WHEN WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET OFF!"

"IT WAS YOUR OWN FAULT FOR BEING SO STUPID AND INTO IT, BAKAKO!"

"ARE YOU BLAMING ME, KAITROLL!? BECAUSE IF YOU ARE GET READY FOR REALITY TO SMACK YOU IN THE FACE BECAUSE IT WAS YOUR FAULT FOR HAVING THAT STUPID MAGIC SHOW IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"OH YEAH? WHATEVER. I'M _MATURE_ , SO I DON'T CARE!" Kaito 'hmph!'ed as he turned from Aoko, expression set in stubbornness as he turned to the poor bus driver, eyes narrowed in determination. "Hey! You!"

The bus driver gulped at Kaito's intensity and pointed a quavering finger at himself. "M-me?" He repeated with a small, nervous chuckle. "What would you like me to—"

"Drive us to our station." Kaito commanded.

"S-sir, that's an unreasonable—"

" _DO IT_."

The man gulped. _My job's going to get the heck of a beating when I get back…_ But for some odd reason, he found it hard to deny this teenager what he wanted. And didn't this technically count as bus hijacking? He could just report the brat to the police. "Y-yes sir." He quickly nodded and dashed to the steering wheel, wiping quickly at the beads of sweat littering his brow.

Aoko sweat dropped. "Isn't this illegal?" She wondered out loud.

Kaito shrugged as he lazily sat down in his seat. "Does it _matter_?" He asked in reply. "We're getting to our spot."

The bus driver started crying. _Why did I want to be a bus driver again?_

0o0o0o0o0o0

Aoko was slightly directionally challenged.

Oh, wait, no she wasn't.

She had no sense of direction, couldn't even tell when she was holding the map upside down, and this was the 10th time that they had walked around the SAME BLOCK with her not-so-helpful attempts at deciphering the simple instructions pointing them to the Mouri's apartment.

"You suck." Kaito noted as he continued juggling five colorful balls that he had pulled out around the 4th time that they had circled the block.

Aoko turned bright red. "Well, I don't see _you_ helping!" She answered accusingly.

Kaito acted shocked. "Me? _Help_?" He echoed. "Banish that very thought from your head, Aoko! I, the great Kaito-sama, doesn't _help_." He paused. "Unless I'm in charge." He added. "In which case, I totally help."

Aoko scowled. "So I suppose you do want to keep getting lost?" She demanded.

Kaito shrugged as he pulled a sketchbook out of his sleeve and eased a pencil from Aoko's ear. "Doesn't make a difference to me." He answered as he started doodling Nakamori in Kaito Kid's costume, chasing himself in circles. "I wanted to work on my amazing art skills anyways."

Aoko rolled her eyes, but continued her vain attempt to find the Mouri's home.

Kaito consented around the 48th time they circled the block, having found that he was running out of magic tricks that he could do while walking. And besides, it was getting dark.

They eventually discovered that it had been on that block the entire time, and the reason why they hadn't found it was because they respectively only looked at the map and the tricks they were going through, and had forgotten to actually look at the street itself.

Aoko blamed Kaito, and Kaito blamed Aoko, then Aoko pulled out a mop and somehow they managed to get into the Mouri's apartment, where they rock-paper-scissor-ed for an almost depressing amount of time to decide who got to knock on the door (if they hadn't been so busy rock-paper-scissor-ing, they might have realized that there was a doorbell).

 _Tap, tap, tap._

Aoko had won, so Kaito sulked in the corner while she rapped on the door. Only a few seconds later, it opened, and a weary face peeked out. "…clients?" A mirror image of Aoko muttered in confusion. "At this hour?" With a slightly exasperated sigh, as though she were used to it, she pulled open the door. "Come on in." She called out wearily over her shoulder. "I'll go call otou-san for you."

"Ah, that won't be necessary." Aoko quickly answered. "We're Aoko and Kaito, the students on exchange? I'm supposed to live here with you, I believe."

The girl paused, and stared at Aoko in surprise, "I could have sworn you wouldn't be here until tomorrow!" She squeaked, before hurriedly pushing together some things on a coffee table. "I hope you don't mind the mess… oh, I _knew_ I should have cleaned up today, but things got so busy with that other case and—"

She turned bright red mid-rant and turned to Aoko again. "I—uh—sorry for the mess. Anyways, I'm Mouri Ran." The girl held out a hand with a sigh. "And uh—where's this Kaito-san that you're speaking of?"

"Here!" Kaito's head popped in the door and Ran turned pale, as though she'd been punched. "Nice to meetcha, miss Mouri Ran-chan! I am the awesome Kuroba Kaito-sama, but I'll let you call me Kaito because you're beautiful." At this, he winked and pulled out a yellow flower.

"Oh…" Ran's features regained some of their color and she shook Kaito's head with a faint, confused smile. "It's nice to meet you… Kaito-kun?"

"That's me!" Kaito agreed cheerfully.

Ran's smile seemed frozen on her lips. "So, are you staying here too?"

"He's not." Aoko cut in. "Do you happen to know where 'Kudo Shinichi' lives?"

Ran's smile dropped. "I—" She faltered. "Actually, I…"

She was cut off as a blur of blue and white flashed into the room and barreled into her, knocking her over.

"Ran-nee-chan! Ojichan is snoring _again_ and I can't sleep so I saw the lights on and are you alright with sleeping or is Ojichan's snoring so loud that you could hear it in your room? I checked but you weren't there so I came here and I'm kind of hungry, is there any candy left in the—"

At this point the blur gasped for breath, and Aoko and Kaito had already realized that it was actually a little boy. Ran laughed and the tension that had built up seemed to disappear with the appearance of the little boy. "Hi, Conan-kun. I see that you're not asleep like I told you to." She tweaked his nose at little as she spoke.

Conan pouted. "But Ran-nee-chaaaan!" He whined. "I already told you, Ojichan is snoring like _crazy_! It's famous, you know, because everyone calls Ojichan Snoring Kogoro, ne, ne, _ne_?"

Ran laughed again. "No, Conan-kun, it's not Snoring Kogoro, it's _sleeping_ Kogoro. And it's not because his snoring's famous, it's because he sleeps when he solves a mystery case."

"Ooooh." Conan nodded in understanding. "So, who are the nee-chan and the nii-chan standing there?"

Aoko smiled warmly. "I'm Nakamori Aoko, and he's Kuroba Kaito. I'll be staying here with you for a while, and he'll be living with Kudo Shinichi. It's nice to meet you…" She trailed off.

"Conan!" Conan chirped his name. "And this nii-chan is staying with Shinichi-nii-chan? Wow! So you know where he is? Or are you staying at his house with Subaru-nii-chan? Either way, that's so cool! Now I have two nee-chans, right?"

While Aoko squealed about how cute Conan was, Kaito's eyes narrowed. _There are way too many things that are wrong with this picture._ He decided. _First of all, this is Sleeping Kogoro's place? That's insane! Second of all…_

"What do you mean 'so I know where he is'?" Kaito asked. "Isn't Kudo-san here?"

Ran straightened, and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear with a slight frown. "You really don't know?" She asked in a regretful voice.

Kaito frowned. "No." He answered. "What's going on?"

Ran bit her lip and looked away. "Shinichi disappeared a few months ago." She offered softly. "His house is currently occupied by a man named Subaru… if you want, you can stay here with us, or we can make arrangements with Subaru-san, if that's preferable."

"Oh—uh—" Kaito swallowed.

There was a slight tug on his pant leg. When he looked down, Conan smiled brightly at him. "Are you going to stay with us, Kaito-nii-chan?" He wondered out loud. "That'd be so cool! Now I'll get another nii-chan to play with me more!" He paused, added in a wistful voice, "Or you can go to Subaru-nii-chan's place, I guess. I always go to Doc's house anyways, so I can still play with you even if you're there." And he brightened again. "So it's a win-win, right, Kaito-nii-chan?"

"I… uh…" Kaito looked pleadingly at Ran. "Is he always like this?"

Ran nodded, a slight smile on her features. "He seems to like you." She offered.

"Great." Kaito answered sarcastically. "Well, why don't I meet this Subaru-san of yours, and then we'll see what to do next?"

"Great!" Ran agreed brightly. "But tomorrow. For now, you can stay here." She rummaged through a closet and tossed him and Aoko two futons. "Aoko-chan can stay with me. You and Conan can sleep together, alright?"

 _Great._ Kaito squinted at Conan. _I'm stuck with a kid that has a bipolar personality. Just great._

And as everyone's back was turned, and Conan's face become more serious, Kaito wondered if Conan might've been thinking the exact same thing as him.


	3. Chapter 3

Conan was exhausted. Aoko was fun, sure, and so was Kaito (once you got used to his annoyingly chipper personality), but it was hard keeping up his act 24/7. His wide, curious eyes and high pitched voice were only one irritating aspect of his childish personality, and it was hard not to wonder how the others didn't tire of it either.

"Hey, kid!" Cheerfully skipping into the room, Kaito tossed his bag into the closet. "Strike!" Kaito cheered, before hopping over to Conan. "So, anything exciting happen today?"

Conan stared at Kaito for a moment, exhausted, before quickly reattaching his mask and perkily answering, "Yeah, Kaito-niichan! We had a scientist visit, and she made water turn green! I thought it was going to taste icky, but it tasted normal, like water! Isn't that cool, Kaito-niichan?"

Kaito grinned back at him before ruffling his hair. "Sure thing, pipsqueak!" He agreed. "That sounds amazing!"

It was all Conan could do to hold back the sarcastic response of _No, it's not, it's so incredibly simple that I felt like my brain was about to explode._ "So, did anything fun happen to _you_ , Kaito-niichan?" Conan asked.

Kaito flashed him a bright grin. "Of course!" He declared arrogantly. "Because awesome and fun things _always_ happen around the great Kaito Kuroba-sama!"

 _Talk about a big head._ Conan thought with a mental roll of his eyes. "Sounds great!" He chirped. "What fun stuff happened, Kaito-niichan? Did something explode? Was there a big mystery? Did you see Kamen Yaiba?"

Kaito puffed up his chest. "Tons of fun stuff happened!" He boasted. "Nothing exploded, there was no mystery and…" He paused, looking slightly uncertain. "Who's Kamen Yaiba?"

Conan rolled his eyes, the expression on his face screaming, _This idiot doesn't even know who Kamen Yaiba is? That's so lame._ "He's only _the_ most awesome superhero in the universe, Kaito-niichan!" He declared in a 'well, duh, isn't it obvious?' voice.

Strangely enough, instead of looking like he was internally amused by Conan, Kaito looked thoughtful. "Are you sure?" He asked dubiously. "Because I think that Kaito KID is pretty darn awesome…"

"Stupid!" Conan answered loftily. "Kaito KID's not a superhero! He doesn't have an awesome transformation like Kamen Yaiba does! Kamen Yaiba goes WHOOSH! And KA-POW! To the bad guys! But all Kaito KID does is stupid tricks where he deceives everyone, which isn't nice. Superheroes stand for truth and justice! KID doesn't do anything but break the law, which only bad guys do."

"Geez, kid." Kaito put a hand to his heart dramatically. "I'm totally converted. Hurt, because the awesome KID-sama is awesome, but still converted. Truth and justice sounds pretty darn awesome."

"Of course it is." Conan agreed, as though it were already obvious. _Geez, did I really sound this stupid when I was a real 6 year old?_ "Everyone knows that."

"Everyone, eh?" Kaito crouched down and gave Conan a distant, almost faded smile. "Never grow up, okay, kid?" He ruffled Conan's hair, but his fingers moved slowly, as though his heart wasn't really into it. "Truth and justice—can only heroes pass it out?"

Conan stared at Kaito for a moment, before puffing out his chest. "Well, I suppose that _some_ onii-chans can give out truth and justice too… but it's a hard job! My secret identity, is Kamen Yaiba, and I'm the strongest!" He burst into obnoxious laughter and raced off, screaming loudly about invisible monsters and how he was strong.

For a moment Kaito just stood there, staring after him with a faint, but sad smile. "The strongest, eh?" He whispered softly. "So can you scare away everything that's evil?"

Conan stared at him in confusion for a moment. _Why's he acting so serious all of the sudden?_ He wondered. "Is… is everything okay, Kaito-niichan?" he asked hesitantly.

Kaito's eyes widened for a moment, before he pasted a cheery smile on his lips. "Of course, silly!" He exclaimed. "Now then… let's play! I'm the evil tickle monster, mwohahahahaha!"

"Gack!" Conan exclaimed in the highest pitched voice he could reach. "I—I mean, I, the awesome Kamen Yaiba will defeat you, evildoer! ACK! NOOOO, KAITO-NIICHAN, STOOOOP!"

As Kaito's relaxed smile found it's way back to his features, Conan's eyebrows furrowed together in concentration. _Why did he just act like that?_ He wondered. Strange…

An excited smile found it's way to Conan's features. _I always do love a good mystery_. He mused. And this one gave him plenty of time to solve…

0o0o0o0o0

"So, Kaito-kun _always_ does that to you?" Ran asked with a giggle as Aoko recalled how every single one of her mornings seemed to go. "But not to anyone else?"

"Well, no, but that's probably because I'm the only girl who won't report him to the police." Aoko sighed as she picked out a dress. "This would look nice on you, Ran-chan." She noted absentmindedly. "What about you? Do you have anyone like Kaito? A childhood friend or something?"

Suddenly the air tensed, and Ran seemed to sadden. "I… yeah."She gave Aoko a sad smile. "I used to… but I don't anymore."

"Oh." Aoko turned bright red. "I'm… I'm so sorry… I didn't know…"

"It's okay." Ran interrupted quietly, a sad smile on her lips. "He's alive. He's just—distant. Ever since his disappearance, he's been different than usual. He calls me every once in a while and he's like normal, but at the same time, he's more distant. Like he's far away and I can't seem to reach him…" She closed her eyes. "It's frustrating." Ran admitted. "But I've come to terms with it."

"So… is he living abroad or something?" Aoko asked curiously. "And you call each other once in a while?"

Ran shook her head. "My friend's name is Shinichi. He's a detective. Right now he's involved in a case and it's… it's not good. The situation is dangerous, so he has to keep a low profile. He's staying away to protect me, or so he says."

Aoko frowned. "What do you mean, or so he says?" She demanded, frustration creeping into her curious voice. "He cares for you, doesn't he?"

Ran shook her head. "He probably does, but I get the feeling that I'm just a nuisance to him." She sat down on the couch in the living room and flicked on the TV, flipping distractedly through the channels. "I think that he thinks of me as just an annoying person who depends too much on him."

Aoko's features twisted in rage. "There's no way that that would happen!" She yelled in fury. "He must care for you—care for you _a lot!_ He says it's dangerous, but he still calls you—that means that he's scared of you getting hurt, but it also _must_ mean that he cares so much about you that he can't bear to go too long without assuring himself that you're okay!"

Tears welled up in Ran's eyes and she hurriedly rubbed at them with the back of her hand. "Y-yeah." She rasped, loathing herself and her stupid weakness for crying so easily. "I—I'm sorry I just—I cry too much…" She forced a smile onto her lips. "I don't know why, but lately I've been crying at the drop of a hat…" Her lower lip wobbled dangerously and she stood up. "I… I'll go get something for us to drink."

"Ran-chan—" Aoko bit her bottom lip, hating herself when a brusque, "Alright. I'd like green tea, please." slipped from her lips.

But Ran looked relieved as she slipped away, quickly making her escape from humiliation.

 _I'll find that Shinichi._ Aoko vowed bitterly. _And I'll_ force _him to tell her that he cares about her. And then she'll stop crying… that stupid guy. Boys are all so stupid._

0o0o0o0o0

"Ah, Conan-chan, spying on your onee-chan's like that is naughty, you know." Kaito sing song-ed as he tapped the young boy on the shoulder.

The small child barely glanced at him before quickly turning away. Kaito's mischievous smirk slipped from his lips as he caught sight of the torn look on the brat's features.

"Oi, what's wrong?" He asked with a slight frown.

Conan stared at him searchingly, before shaking his head sadly. "It's nothing." He breathed out in the barest hints of a whisper. "It's just that…" He tilted his head towards the living room of their apartment. "Ran-neechan is talking about Shinichi-niichan again… and whenever she does that, she cries. I want to make her smiley and happy again but—Ran-neechan just pretends to smile, and that just makes it even worse."

Kaito frowned. "That sounds like it sucks, little man." He said softly as he crouched down. "Who's this Shinichi-niichan of yours anyways? Her boyfriend or something?"

Conan turned bright red, and Kaito felt confused before remembering that the little enigma seemed to have a crush on his neechan. "No, he's not!" Conan quickly whisper-shouted. "He's just her childhood friend! Shinichi-niichan…" His features crumpled. "He's a detective, but he's on a case right now, so he left her. I—I can't forgive him for abandoning her like that." His small fingers curled into fists as he repeated, "I'll _never_ forgive that."

"Whoa, whoa." Forcing a halfhearted smile onto his lips, Kaito clapped a hand onto Conan's shoulder. "Calm down, squirt. Not forgiving him doesn't sound very understanding. Why don't you try giving this Shinichi-niichan of yours a chance? Maybe he had something happen to him that made it so that he couldn't be with her?"

Conan shook his head. "You don't get it." He replied angrily. "Shinichi-niichan could come back any time that he wants to. He's just selfish—he wants her to be safe, so he's with holding her happiness." He kicked at the floor. "And I hate how I agree that that's the better option. He's making her cry and I'm _okay_ with it! It's just so—" He grit his teeth together and shook his head violently. "I gotta go, Kaito-niichan."

The spectacled boy shook Kaito's hand off his shoulders and stormed off. Kaito sighed and rubbed the back of his head as he peered after Conan. "Still an enigma, eh?" He groaned as he stood up. "Maybe I can get more information out of Ran-chan…" Kaito frowned slightly as he felt at his cheeks, a strange feeling that he was forgetting something washing over him. _Ah… I forgot it!_

Feeling exhausted, Kaito smiled brightly and bounded into the living room before lightly chatting with Ran and Aoko about random things.

 _Kaito, you idiot._ He mentally scolded himself. _You can't just go and forget your Poker Face!_

0o0o0o0o0o0

Shivering slightly as he stepped out of the rain and onto Doc Agasa's porch, Conan took a few seconds to shake his umbrella and pull it closed before he rang the doorbell. "Come on, I know you're in there!" He called out impatiently when silence answered.

There was a slight turn of the knob and Ai's irritated face poked out between the door and it's frame as she answered dryly, "My, ever the impatient one, aren't you, Kudo-kun?"

"Do me a favor and _stop calling me Kudo_. I've got someone with me." He hissed softly as Kaito—ever the annoying one—popped into a crouch beside him and stared curiously at Ai.

"Who's this, Co-chan?" He asked curiously. "Is she your girlfriend?"

Ai stared at Kaito for a moment with unveiled irritation before answering, "Hardly. I wouldn't go out with the detective geek even if he was the last person on earth."

Kaito let out a low whistle. "That bad, eh?" He gave Conan a sympathetic look. "You've got bad luck with the ladies, eh, Co-chan? Your Ran-neechan and this little lady both look like they don't harbor any romantic feelings for you." He rubbed the top of Conan's head in sympathy. "Don't worry, someone will come along some day."

Conan scowled as he batted away Kaito's hand impatiently. "It's fine, because I'm not in love with either of them." His eyes flickered over to Ai. "And besides, I don't think I'd go out with this science geek either even if _she_ was the last person on earth."

"That's a relief." They heard Ai mutter under her breath as she let them in. "So, what have you two come here for?"

"Well…" Kaito and Conan exchanged glances, before sighing. "Ran-chan kicked us out of the house." Kaito exclaimed. "After I flipped Aoko's skirt for the fifth time and Ran complained, I flipped Ran-chan's skirt and… well, all _three_ of them were trying to kill me! Even the little ankle biter!"

"I don't condone perverts." Conan announced innocently. "Ran-neechan doesn't either."

"Yeah…" Kaito rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "So, mind if we stay over?"

Ai stared at the two of them for a moment, before ushering them outside and slamming the door in their faces. "Try Subaru-san!" She called out before locking the door and putting headphones over her ears to muffle the exclamations of complaint.

Kaito glared at Conan as they headed towards the Kudo mansion. "Your girlfriend's cold." He complained.

Conan glared back before kicking Kaito in the shins and skipping over to the door of the Kudo mansion, leaving Kaito swearing in the rain.

Luckily, Subaru-san let them in. "I'm working on a case at the moment, so try to be quiet, alright?" Was all he said before he rubbed the back of his head and dragged himself away (though he seemed tempted to stay and relax).

Kaito peered curiously after him. "Is he a detective or something?" He asked curiously.

"Or something." Conan agreed. "He's smart, so Megure-keibu-san asks him for help a lot. He's probably working on a murder case or something."

Kaito smirked. "Sounds interesting." He commented.

Conan's eyes were sharp, and an excited smile was already on his lips. "Yeah, it does!" He answered. It took all he could to make his voice light and childish. "Mysteries as so fun, don't you think, Kaito-niichan?"

 **A/N:** I know. The update was late, the chapter was horrible, you probably want my head. Sorry! I was in another fandom, so I kind of neglected writing… but I'll attempt to get the next chapter up faster! (Key word being attempt…)


	4. Chapter 4

As the door clicked shut behind his partner-in-crime—or deduction, he supposed, let out a sigh of relief.

"I see you managed to get away from this new niichan of yours." Akai commented in amusement as Conan bounded over to where he was sitting at the computer. "Where did this one come from? A new challenger for Shinichi Kudo? Ran's new boyfriend? Or something else?"

"Don't even joke about that." Conan groaned as he climbed onto a spare chair. "The guy's exhausting. A transfer student—he was supposed to stay with me, apparently, but he ended up staying at the Mouri's place because… well, you know. Anyways, what are you working on?"

"The same thing that everyone else with a hint of brains… or curiousity… in this area is." Akai answered with a frown as he rubbed his temples wearily. "And I'm ending up where everyone else is too—nowhere."

"At least we know who's the most likely culprit for doing it." Conan said as he clicked a file impatiently. "The Black Organization."

"Knowing their name isn't necessarily going to help us to get closer to apprehending them or saving the children though, is it?" Akai asked dryly.

Conan hummed absentmindedly as he pulled up a map of their district and connected the starred houses—the ones that the children had vanished from. "Perhaps not, but we can get into the inner workings of their mind more easily—and the faster we understand their logic, the faster we win this game of cat and mouse."

Akai smirked. "You're beginning to talk like me. And besides, we don't seem to have many clues. The order, ages, homes of the children—none of them have any patterns. And it's unlike them to have such a… _thoughtless_ … plan. Something's up."

Conan nodded as he tipped the chair back, a lazy hand on the edge of the desk keeping him from toppling over. " _She_ 's getting paranoid. I think that she's worried they've somehow tracked her down—I keep telling her it's impossible, and that if they knew she were a child they'd catch her instead of randomly catching children, but she's not listening to me."

Akai raised an eyebrow. "What about you?" He wondered out loud. "What if they figured out what the apotoxin did but didn't know that she took it? What if you were assumed to be the only victim… and they were looking for _you_? Then it would make sense. All the apprehended children are between 5 and 7 years old—frighteningly close to your physical age."

Conan frowned. "I did think of that." He answered slowly. "But then it makes no sense again. Why are they apprehending children who don't look like me, or girls when I'm obviously a male? And they'd need to find children who recently came to this district—but many of the children who were kidnapped had grown up here."

Akai's eyebrows knit themselves together in frustration. "I don't get it." He scowled. "I've tried to make connections but it all seems to be a dead end. _Although…_ "

Conan was instantly alert. "Although?" He repeated eagerly.

"There have been reports that adults have went to the children's parents and have claimed to be their child… and though it's claimed to be impossible, they look just like the child would have looked if they had grown up…"

"You don't mean…" Conan's eyes widened. "An anti-Apotoxin? But how would that make sense? Why would they need to reverse it? And why are they testing it on…"

"Vermouth knows who you are." Akai breathed, his eyes narrowing as his brain began to calculate possibilities. "What is she let it slip—no, she's too careful for that—what if she revealed it to someone on purpose? No, she wouldn't even need to… what if someone figured it out, _on their own_?"

Conan froze as his brain caught up to what the other was saying. "You mean that they either accidentally shrunk someone and want them to be normal, or they're baiting Ai and I because they know that the offer of a counteracting medicine would seem too tempting to resist."

"Even if this is true, so far we have no evidence." Akai frowned as he stood up and wearily paced the room. "What could we do if we have no evidence or clues to point us in the right direction?"

Conan slumped with a slight frown. "That's true." He bit out reluctantly. "But I could act as bait, and then…"

"No." Akai's sharp voice cut through his offer. "I don't want to put you kids in danger."

"I'm not a kid though." Conan argued. "Just because I look like this doesn't mean that I'm a kid, and you know that! I'm sick and tired of being treated like a kid! Don't you get that? I saved your _life_! I'm not some stupid child who doesn't understand anything!"

Akai shook his head. "You don't have to be six to be a child." He answered. "You're still a child… no matter what you say. And you're acting like one right now, hotheaded and impulsive. Why don't you think a little and…"

"Think?" Conan stood up, the chair clattering violently as he did so. "Fine." He glowered. "You think here, and think until you can't think anymore. I'll go actually do something about it… I'm sick of being like this. I'm sick of sitting back and watching innocent kids go missing. You think. I'll go and try to do something."

"Wait…" Akai stood up. "I love action as much as you do, but any move that we make recklessly, they'll just be two steps ahead of us! Plus, they have hostages."

Conan stared at him for a moment, before sighing, "I know. I just… this sucks. All of it." He shook his head slightly, as though trying to shake the rebellious thoughts from his mind, and then said, "You think for a while. Kaito-kun will get suspicious if I'm gone for too long."

"Yeah, I guess so." Akai agreed reluctantly. "You go on. I'll do some more searching."

Conan frowned as he examined the dark bags under the agent's eyes. "…Fine." He finally sighed. "But get some rest, alright? I'd hate for you to be useless when we finally find out where the kids are."

Akai smiled in response. "Alright. You go and watch after that Kaito-kun of yours, alright? I think he's the paranoid type… or the suspicious type. Whichever one you'd prefer."

"How about both?" Conan chuckled. "But don't worry about him. He's just a normal teenager… with the brain of a five year old."

 _Of course I am, tantei-kun._ A slight smile graced Kaito's lips as he turned and tiptoed away from Akai's room. _I'm nothing but a completely normal, childish teenager… who just so happens to be Kaito KID._

0o0o0o0o0o0

Kaito hadn't _meant_ to spy on tantei-kun and… well, he supposed he'd dub the new man tantei-san until he figured out some more clever nickname… okay, fine, so he had meant to spy on them, but so what? As an international criminal, he was fairly sure he had _some_ allowance to do things that most looked down upon.

"The faster we understand their logic, the faster we win this game of cat and mouse." Tantei-kun said grimly as he checked something on the computer.

 _Oh?_ Kaito felt like purring as he pressed his ear closer to the door. _A game of cat and mouse? What kind of game is that?_ And that mention of a Black organization…

His eyes widened as he remembered tantei-kun's words at the previous heist. _"_ _This looks a lot like the model that an organization I'm hunting down is using. What did you do to make_ them _try to kill you?"_

 _It couldn't be…_ He frowned slightly. _Snake and his goons are a bunch of incompetent idiots, though. There's_ no way _that they could be behind this missing children's case… unless…_

There was so much to think about. But he couldn't help those two… he had something else he had to do first. _Kaito KID doesn't need to associate with those idiotic critics._ He decided, closing his eyes. _But… alright, fine… maybe I'll stay on the side of that justice they're always talking about._

… _Just for a little while, though._

After all, he was still Kaito KID, the greatest phantom thief in the world!

The artists couldn't side with the critics!

…not for too long, anyways. Maybe… maybe just for a little while, he could help them out. Just to see if those 'Men in Black' were his father's killers.

This was just to check and make sure. Nothing else. He wouldn't get attached.

Or, at least, that was the plan.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hey, kiddo." Kaito greeted tantei-kun as he skipped down the stairs. "What's up? You were missing a while ago, but I figured since you were with the old detective guy or whatever it'd be alright, right?"

Conan stared at him for a moment, as though he wasn't sure whether to thank God that Kaito was an idiot or face palm at the fact that Kaito was an idiot. "Yeah." He finally agreed, and a bright smile lit up his features as his voice began to rise a few decibels. "What did you do while I was with Subaru-niichan?" Conan chirped cheerily, but even though his smile as bright as an ordinary child's, Kaito felt a chill race down his spine at the curious coldness in his eyes.

 _What a Poker Face._ Kaito marveled as he replied, "Oh, just explored a bit until I realized that it wasn't my property so I should stay put." He rubbed the back of his head and laughed sheepishly. "I got a little lost though, but thankfully I got lost near a bathroom, so I was just fine. Then I found the stairs, and here I am!" He grinned brightly at Conan. "What a miracle, eh, Conan-chan?"

Conan crossed his arms over his chest with a slight huff. "Stop calling me Conan-chan!" He protested in irritation. "I'm not a little kid anymore! I'm a _big kid_ now, so you can call me…" He paused and pretended to think for a moment before striking what he must have assumed was a 'cool pose' and deepening his voice dramatically. "You can call me, _Kamen Yaiba Conan-sama._ " He paused, and added, "Or the Great Conan-sama!"

Kaito frowned at him slightly before offering, "How about Conanini?" He struck a pose and tipped an imaginary top hat against his chest. "I think it sounds… _inspiring_."

"Inspiring?" Conan scoffed. "Kamen Yaiba is _way_ cooler, Kaito-niichan! Conanini just sounds lame! What's that 'ini' thing on the end anyways? It's just a longer version of my name with a strange sound at the end!"

"Don't you know?" Kaito demanded in faux horror. "It's a play on _Houdini_ 's name! Don't you know, Conan-chan!? Houdini was the greatest magician _ever_!"

Conan rolled his eyes. "The greatest magician ever?" He demanded with a wrinkle of his nose. "All magicians are nothing but a bunch of con men who make their money off of tricking people."

Kaito gasped. "No, Conan-chan! Don't let others deceive you into believing that! Magicians are people who put on a show so that people will smile." He crouched down and smiled softly at Conan. "Even if they want nothing less than to stand on the stage, Magicians will continue smiling for the sake of the audience."

Something strange flickered in the six year old's eyes, before he muttered reluctantly, "I guess they're _alright_. But not all of them are that good, and besides, Kamen Yaiba is still cooler!"

"Sure he is, kid." Kaito sighed as he stood up. "I'll agree with you… _for now_. But sooner or later, I'll convert you!"

Conan gaped at him for a moment, before screeching wildly, "Noooo! DON'T MAKE ME A RELIGIOUS IDIOT!"

"…What?" Kaito raised an eyebrow.

Conan pouted. "That's what Uncle Kogoro says, anyways. He says that all the religious idiots want to convert him! And then he says…" He dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "He says a lot of bad words that Ran-neechan hits him for saying. They're so bad that I'm not even supposed to repeat them!"

Kaito smiled and nodded. "Then don't repeat them, 'kay? And I didn't mean converting you to religiousness. I meant converting you to being a magic fan. You see, converting means…"

Conan was still a mystery. But that was alright. Because when Kaito KID was around, the truth _always_ was revealed! Because KID was just that awesome.

And, since he was KID, then that must have meant that Kaito was pretty darn awesome too.

 **A/N:** This was… bad. Incredibly, super bad. Not to mention late. I'm an awful person, I know. Sorry for the lateness and the overall awfulness… *sigh*…


	5. Chapter 5

As they walked leisurely around the shopping district, Kaito said casually to Conan, "You know, Conan-chan, this really isn't going to make a difference. I'm going to see Ran-chan sooner or later and…" He was cut off by a sharp kick to the shins and Conan turning bright red.

"I don't listen to stupid, perverted niichans who don't use their brains." Conan replied with a scowl before tugging him over to a book store. "Ran-neechan doesn't deserve to have a stupid niichan like you around who does nothing but perverted things that makes her angry." He paused, and added spitefully, "Shinichi-niichan would never have done something stupid like you did."

"Aw, cut me some slack!" Kaito protested. "And besides, are you saying that Shinichi-niichan _never_ did _anything_ stupid _at all_ where it concerned Ran-chan? That he was perfect?"

Conan stopped, and for a moment he looked a little lost, before glaring at Kaito vehemently. "Shinichi-niichan never flipped Ran-neechan's skirt." He replied defiantly. "And he _definitely_ never mistook her for someone else. He may have been stupid, arrogant, and didn't pay enough attention to her…" The last part was said in a sad, soft voice filled with wistful wishes, "But he was still a better niichan than _you_!"

"Ah, kid, I'm hurt." Kaito laughed as he placed a hand over his chest. "Do you mind saying a sentence that _doesn't_ insult my manly pride?"

"Okay, Kaito-niichan." Conan replied brightly. "Not that you had any manly pride in the first place, but alright!"

"Brat." Kaito grumbled accusingly.

"I know you are, but what am I?" Conan asked in a voice as haughty as a six year old's could become.

"A brat!" Kaito declared in firm irritation. "You're a complete brat! I may be a brat, but you take brattiness to a new level with your annoyingly weird personality."

Conan sighed almost regretfully and offered mournfully, "You know, Kaito-niichan, talking to yourself is supposed to be the first sign of insanity. The fact that you're talking to yourself is…"

Kaito's eyes twitched dangerously as he burst out indignantly, "Who's talking to themselves, you shrimp? The Great Kaito-sama is not insane! Okay, fine, maybe a little—just maybe—oi, stop laughing at me!—but I'm still a wonderful and respectable man who wouldn't _ever_ talk to himself!"

"Of course, Kaito-niichan." Conan replied in a sober voice as he gently patted Kaito's arm. "You just keep telling yourself that, alright?"

"I will!" Kaito huffed. "…Wait, no! That came out wrong! I mean, the Great Kaito-sama only speaks the truth…"

"Ooh, look, it's the newest installment of Detective Iris!" Conan interrupted Kaito's attempt at justifying himself as he bounded excitedly over to the bookstore and pressed his hands against the glass to get a better look. "Come on, Kaito-niichan, let's go inside and get it!"

Kaito peered at the book for a moment, before a smirk crossed his features. _Revenge time._ "Ara, Conan-chan, why would you want to go into a bookstore with someone who's insane like me?" He asked in a voice coated with all the sweetness he could muster. "I mean, I talk to myself and I'm a pathetic little thing who only makes half hearted attempts at defending himself…"

"Nooo, Kaito-niichan, I was wrong!" Conan exclaimed as he tugged insistently on the edge of Kaito's shirt. "Forgive me and take me inside, pleeeeaaase?"

"Well…" Kaito feigned reluctance as he shrugged with an exasperated sigh. "I suppose if you _insist_ …" Conan's features brightened, making Kaito feel almost guilty for what he was about to do.

Key word being _almost_. That little brat was about to get what he deserved.

"…then we can't go." Oh man, the kid's face was _priceless_. It looked halfway between horrified sorrow and murderous rage. "I mean, we just don't have enough time for little books, and besides…" He crouched down and patted Conan's head with the full knowledge that the miniature detective hated it. "Are you a little too young?"

Conan glowered at him, before seeming to realize something as his features brightened, then fell again as his lower lip began to wobble dangerously. "I… I guess you're right, Kaito-niichan…" He agreed sadly as he lifted an arm to swipe over his eyes quickly. "I was just so excited at seeing books that I forgot Kaito-niichan is a stingy, brainless idiot with the elegance of a monkey. Asking niichan was stupid, Ran-neechan will get it for me anyways."

"Why you little…!" Kaito had to admit, he was halfway to impressed. Only halfway, though, of course, because nobody could meet the great Kaito-sama's high expectations. But it was quite hard to fake cry while insulting someone and pass it all off as a child's immature personality. With a huff of frustration, he crossed his arms over his chest with the demand that Conan, "Apologize to me _immediately_!"

Conan tilted his head to the side. "Why would I do that, Kaito-niichan?" He asked in a voice so innocent it had to be fake. "I mean, I didn't say anything that wasn't true. You won't even take me into a little bookstore…"

Kaito glared at him, before consenting, "Apologize to me and I'll let you go in."

"Oh, great Kaito-niichan-sama, forgive this peasant for speaking the truth about you." Conan deadpanned with a roll of his eyes.

Kaito's eyes twitched dangerously. "I'm going to kill you." He replied in mock fury. "Apologize properly, brat!"

Conan sighed, and replied, "I'm sorry, Kaito-niichan. I'll never do it again, so _please_ let me go into the bookstore? Pretty please, with an apple on top?" He clasped his hands together and drew his eyebrows together in a way that made Kaito wonder if Conan wasn't really simply a normal six year old.

"…fine." Kaito consented. "But you've only got five minutes, and you're paying for anything you want to buy with your own money, got it?"

A confused expression crossed Conan's features. "Pay?" He echoed in a voice that was _way_ too innocent to be truly innocent. "What's paying? Don't I just take it home after Ran-neechan tells the nice niichan or neechan at the cashier that we're taking it?"

Kaito scowled. "Don't play dumb," He groused, "You know what money is, you little shrimp."

Conan blinked at him. "But Kaito-niichan," His eyebrows knit together almost smoothly enough to fool Kaito. Key word being _almost_. "Don't I just take it? But if Ran-neechan won't let me, then I can't because of a magical spell that won't let me take it home, right?"

"If you don't stop playing dumb, the idea of you going to that bookstore is _history_." Kaito threatened.

Conan gave him a long, measured look and Kaito could just catch the barest hints of a smirk, before repeating innocently, "I don't know what you're talking about, Kaito-niichan." His face contorted in faux fear—it was so fake that Kaito could practically _smell_ it. _This brat…_ "Kaito-niichan's being scary though. Please stop."

Kaito narrowed his eyes. "I know, and you know, that you're not just some stupid six year old. So stop acting like it—or I _swear_ , I'm going to tell your precious Ran-neechan about that crush you have on her."

"It's not a crush!" The words flew from Conan's lips in a quick defense as his cheeks began to flush crimson. "And of course I'm not stupid! I'm a hero, and a big boy!"

Kaito scowled, but dropped the subject. The brat may have thought he'd pulled one over Kaito for now—but this wasn't over. Far from it, in fact. This battle had just started.

0o0o0o0o0

Okay, fine, Conan knew that his act was nowhere _near_ fooling Kaito—but as long as he didn't have evidence, Kaito couldn't condemn him. And besides, what was he to do? Admit to a total stranger that he was _the_ Kudo Shinichi, a genius teenager who had went missing a few months ago?

Kaito would think it was another one of the lies Conan used to cover up his true self—or maybe just a practical joke that he couldn't be expected to take seriously.

And even if he _did_ believe him—what then? Could Conan honestly be so naïve as to think that Kaito would not only accept his secret, but keep it?

No way. Conan wasn't stupid—if Kaito did accept his secret without question, he would either be even stupider than Conan thought (the idea wasn't very likely), or he himself was hiding something.

Either way, it would brood ill for Conan, so he kept quiet as he ruffled through the shelves of books.

"What are you thinking about, Conan-chan?" Kaito asked as he peered down at the book in Conan's hands. "Wow, doesn't that book seem a little too complex for you?"

Conan scowled, and before he could stop himself, the insult of, "Stupid Kaito-niichan!" slipped out, and he hastily covered by adding, "Ran-neechan can read it to me, and teach me how to read! Besides," He puffed out his chest, mentally bemoaning the childish words that were about to come out of his mouth, "I'm a big boy, so I'll be able to read it all by myself soon!"

He had always hated acting. Drama class had been fun enough, because he could always guess the ending of the story and who wrote the play—but when he was on stage himself, he found it tiresome and irritating. And though he thanked kami for it _now_ , he still found himself preferring to act like normal.

Normal. He had long since forgotten what that even was.

"Sure, tantei-kun." Kaito laughed as he reached out to ruffle Conan's hair.

Conan rolled his eyes and moved a hand to push Kaito's hand away, before he froze. _Tantei-kun_? The words echoed in his mind as he tried to puzzle out why they sounded so familiar…

The image of a white clad figure smirking triumphantly flashed in his mind. "Who are you?" The words escaped his lips before he could stop them, and his eyes narrowed as his brain raced to find the connections between Kaito and KID. It was a wild, crazy thought. Completely nonsensical. And yet…

Kaito watched cautiously as Conan's act dropped, and his eyes narrowed as his features twisted themselves in concentration. "What are you talking about?" Kaito laughed. "I'm Kaito Kuroba, you know that," He hesitated for a moment, before sticking on, "Conan-chan."

"You're…" Conan frowned at him. "You're Kaito KID!"

Kaito stared at him for a moment, before forcing laughter to explode. "I'm Kaito KID?" He echoed in what he hoped sounded like an amused voice. "That's cute, Conan-chan. Are we playing some sort of a game right now?"

"Stop playing dumb." Conan shook his head. "You're best friends with Nakamori's daughter, which would explain how KID seems to always know how the police are going to capture him. You're never suspected, because Nakamori-keibu must see you as family. I thought your voice seemed familiar, but I never thought…" He narrowed his eyes. "And you look uncannily alike."

"Oh, no!" Kaito lamented dramatically. "You have caught me, tantei-sama! I'm the evil Kaito KID… but you shall never catch me! OHOHOHOHOHO!" He spun around and raced off slowly, as though humoring a child, but when he turned to look, Conan's eyes were cold and sharp.

"Don't bother acting." Conan commanded. "If you do, I'll tell Aoko-neechan who you really are."

Kaito's faux smile slipped a little, but he quickly straightened it. _Poker face, poker face…_ "Conan-chan, you shouldn't confuse a game with real life." He admonished.

"What game?" Conan demanded. "Is stealing gems just a game to you?"

For a split second, Kaito's features seemed to darken, and then he sighed, "Conan-chan, let's go home. We can pretend that I'm Kaito KID some other time."

Conan's upper lip curled in distaste, and he aimed his watch at Kaito. "Tell me the truth." He commanded.

For a moment, Kaito stared at Conan, watching his firm gaze and the tight way his fingers prepared to fire. "I think," He replied slowly, "That you need to go to sleep."

"Wha—!" Conan's eyes widened as Kaito turned his watch around and fired a dart into his forehead.

"Night, tantei-kun." Kaito sighed as he picked Conan up. "I'll deal with you in the morning."

Then he felt the prick of a dart on the back of his neck, and a curse barely managed to escape his lips before his vision darkened and he heard Conan's high pitched voice wonder mischeviously, "Kaito-niichan, are you alright?"

 **A/N:** Badly written, short, _and_ late. I'm very sorry. As an apology, I'm prepared for the tomatoes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Reply to Guest:** No, not mocking religion. In fact, I'm Christian. It just happens to be something the Kogoro commented on, but he makes pessimistic comments about _everything_ , so don't think much of it.

As Kaito blearily opened his eyes, the first thing he said was, "I was pretty sure that I had been the one who knocked _you_ out."

Conan peered at him from his oversized book and then replied dryly, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "Who do you think that you're kidding?" He demanded. "I'm onto your game. Don't try to play Mr. Elusive, I _saw_ that watch, I _knocked_ you out…. No, you were faking, weren't you? You knocked _me_ out. There's no way that I could have _imagined_ that!"

Conan rolled his eyes, and shot Kaito a look that seemed to be a mix of irritation and reluctant laziness. His voice rose an octave as he sighed with forced cheeriness, "I don't know what you're talking about, Kaito-niichan. Did you have a weird dream last night?" He closed his book, stood up, and pressed a small hand against Kaito's forehead.

For a moment, the thief simply glared at the small genius before his eyes focused on the watch wrapped around Conan's wrist. He quickly sat up and knocked the small had aside before latching onto Conan's arm and demanding, "Then how do you explain _this_?" He gave the watch the twist and pull he had seen done before, and smirked in satisfaction as it popped open.

Conan gave him an unimpressed look. "So what if I have a cool toy?" He asked. "That doesn't make much of a difference, Kaitou KID-niichan." He sat down on the bed and swung his legs lazily forwards as his eyes sharpened. "You know what I'm like, I know who you are." He hopped off the bed and smirked. "Case closed."

Kaito sighed. "That felt too anticlimactic." He complained. "Did you do any prodding into my life or hack into my computer? Did you compare KID's bone structure with mines, or run voice tests?"

Conan laughed. "Don't need to." He replied easily. "It was simple once I thought about it. I compared some of your habits and made the connection." The boy shrugged. "I'm not so surprised. I always knew that you were the second one—the heir, not the original."

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "And what do you know about the original anyways?" He scoffed.

"Not much." Conan shrugged. "I know he was probably your deceased father—that you most likely didn't know about his 'night job' until his death. But what makes me curious, is why you're doing this." His eyes narrowed. "I thought at first you had been trained for this or something—but upon meeting you, I feel like you becoming KID was something recent and probably rushed. You're trying to do something—what jewel are you looking for? What purpose will it serve? Is it some last wish your father had? …or is it something more?"

Wow, the kid was good. Kaito spread out his hands and chuckled, "Do you really want to know, tantei-kun? You're a detective, aren't you? I get the feeling that you don't exactly like the answers straight up and easy… or was I wrong about you?"

The boy's eyes were cold and calculating. "I don't have time to waste on you right now, KID." Conan replied shortly. "Usually, this would be fun, but there are bigger things for me to worry about than your ego right now."

Kaito pursed his lips together. "The missing children." He deduced with a scowl. "You're right, it is an issue. How about this, tantei-kun? I'll help you find the missing children, and if you don't deduce the answers by the end of our search, I'll tell you."

Conan's eyes sharpened as he demanded, "And what do _you_ get out of this?"

The edges of Kaito's lips quirked up into a smirk as he hummed, "That's for me to know and you to find out, tantei-kun." At Conan's deadpan look, Kaito sighed and pouted. "What, can't you let me have at least a little fun?" He sulked.

Conan remained unimpressed.

"Fiiiine." Kaito groaned. "I need you to help me find some people… and take them down."

The younger boy straightened, a glint of curiosity sparking to life in his eyes. "What people?" He asked. "What do you know about them, and why do you want to take them down?"

A sad smile graced Kaito's lips, before he reattached his Poker Face and replied, "I'm not quite sure who they are. But trust me, they're not the good guys… I call them the Men in Black."

Conan inhaled sharply. "What else do you know about them?" He demanded, his knuckles whitening as his fingers curled tightly into a fist. "What did you do to make them come after you?"

Kaito blinked, startled, and replied sheepishly, "Well, you see, all I know is that they have codenames. The leader is called Snake, I think… and as for why they're after me, I won't die." He sighed, "I mean, I would die and all but I'm not so fond of dying just because some stupid Neanderthals that I happened to tick off want me to."

"Yes, having people trying to constantly kill you is a pain." Conan agreed dryly. "I find myself doing it a lot in my free time, strangely enough."

"Me too!" Kaito exclaimed. "What a coincidence!"

Conan rolled his eyes. "I suppose we have a deal." He conceded, although his voice was still filled with doubt.

Kaito's grin widened. "Alright, then!" He cheered. "But one last thing…"

"What?" Conan groaned.

Kaito leaned forwards and smiled brightly. "Tell me your secret." He prodded. "Who are you?"

Conan stared for a moment, before he groaned. "I knew I should have expected this." He muttered unhappily to himself. For a moment, the boy was silent, looking thoughtful but reluctant, before he finally decided, "How about this? In the same time I'm given to try to deduct why you're KID, you can try to steal my secret. If you can't do it, I'll tell you, just like you're going to tell me why you are who you are, alright?"

Kaito rolled his eyes. "Fine." He muttered with a sigh. "I'll steal your secret, stupid tantei-kun. So, we ought to start our search for the children, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah." Conan agreed as a slow smile of excitement crossed his features. "I'll introduce you to someone who works with me on some cases… you already know him, in fact. His name is Subaru Okiya."

0o0o0o0o0

As he peered cautiously into Kaito's face, Akai nodded decisively. "Allowing Kaito KID to join us in our investigation won't do us any harm, I suppose." He frowned slightly and added under his breath, "The FBI spent so many years searching for a _teenager_ … I bet that Jody will laugh when she hears about this."

"I'm not that young." Kaito sulked. "And don't worry about not being able to catch me, I'm one of the best. It's only to be expected."

Conan groaned and face palmed. "Haibara is working on genetic investigation." He informed them. "I'll introduce you to her later, KID."

Kaito pouted. "Can't you call me Kaito-niichan like you always do?" He asked. Conan's features screwed up in disgust and he looked so opposed to the idea that Kaito finally consented and exclaimed, "Fine, fine, you don't have to! Yeesh. Call me Kaito, then?"

"Of course, KID." Conan agreed patronizingly.

Kaito groaned again. "Tantei-kun, as much as I love you—" (He pointedly ignored Conan as the boy mimed gagging.) "—I really wish you'd stop calling me KID. You'll blow my cover!"

Conan blinked innocently. "Is that a bad thing?" He asked in the fakest 'I'm-just-a-sweet-little-kid' voice that Kaito had ever been cursed with hearing.

"Brat." Kaito accused.

"I never said I was otherwise." Conan snickered.

If he wasn't so annoying, Kaito might've liked this kid. Shoot, he liked him anyways, when he didn't want to punch the brat's lights out, at least. "Well, you are one." Kaito snorted. "Don't feel too proud, I'm still way brattier than you."

Conan laughed. "You said it, not me." He replied cheerily. "So, Subaru-san, want to fill Kaito here in about the details?"

Akai looked amused as he replied, "Alright, sure." He gestured for Kaito to come over, and then tapped at the screen of his computer as he asked, "What do you think these kids all share in common?"

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "Is this a trick question?" He wondered. "They're all 5-7 years old, and live in this area. Do you have any information that I don't know about?"

"Yes." Conan frowned as he walked up behind them. "Didn't you read the news this morning? The first two have been returned to their parents… exactly two weeks after their kidnapping. Tomorrow, if there really is a pattern, a third child will return. The police have found a drug in their system… but they don't know what it does yet."

"Interesting." Kaito raised an eyebrow. "If they were fed a drug, do you think that they might have been knocked out with it?"

Akai shook his head. "A good guess, but wrong." He responded. "It was an experimental drug, filled with almost the exact opposite ingredients of…" Conan interrupted him with a cough, and he frowned. "…another drug that we know about from previous investigations."

"I see." Kaito mused as he mentally noted Conan's tense form. "How is it that you know what the ingredients were?"

Conan and Akai exchanged glances, and Akai sheepishly admitted, "We got Sleeping Kogoro drunk, and then interrogated him."

Kaito whistled. "Smooth going." He applauded. "That's almost sneaky enough to be on my level."

Conan made gagging motions. "Then we shall never do something like that again." He decided.

Kaito stuck his tongue out at the miniature detective, and then asked, "What do you think the drug did, then?"

Conan and Akai exchanged glances again, this time more tight and secretive. "We may have a lead." Conan replied slowly. "But we're not sure. We'll get back to you once we have evidence."

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "So, it has something to do with your secret, tantei-kun?" He surmised.

Conan merely stared at him impassively, his Poker Face impressively in place. "It doesn't matter right now." He replied in a tight voice. _That's a yes._ Kaito decided. "But we think that the kidnapping also has something to do with the fact that strange adults that looked like the children would grow up to be showed up at their houses after the kidnapping. We think it might be…" He frowned, and shook his head. "Never mind."

Curiosity threatened to overwhelm Kaito as he demanded, "What? You can't just keep me in the dark forever! Why not just tell me now?"

Akai held up a hand. "KID, you should know that there are reasons for secrets to be kept just as well as us." He said in a tone of finality. "Don't just us for something that you yourself do on a daily basis."

Kaito opened his mouth to protest, but grudgingly shut it so quickly that there was a slight _puff_ ing sound. "If you won't give me all the information you have though, what could I possibly do to help you investigate?"

Conan stared at him, and then stared at Akai. "There's an organization we suspect may be behind this…" He replied slowly. "Their higher agents have code names. They're nicknamed after alcoholic drinks… The ones I can recall from the top of my head are Vermouth, Bourbon, Gin and Vodka. I suspect that you've already made contact with one of their agents, Snakebite."

Kaito frowned. "I see. So the reason they call him Snake isn't because they're named after animals, it's a short form for the Mexican alcoholic drink."

Conan nodded. "Take a seat, and we can exchange information." He offered. "This is going to take a while."


	7. Chapter 7

Brandy raced into the nearest alley, skidding behind a wall as she hugged the metallic case to her chest. Slow footsteps approached her hiding space as her heartbeat began to speed up. _No... please..._

"What do you think you're doing, Brandy-chan?" A cheerful voice chirped into her ear as the familiar warmth of a gun's barrel pressed itself against her temple.

Brandy gasped. "Vermouth!" She spun around. "I... I got them for you! I did everything you asked! Please, don't tell the boss that..."

She was cut off as a bullet drilled through her skull. A slight gasp escaped her lips as Vermouth sighed. "Such a pity she had to die. Did you really have to do that, Vodka-chan?"

"Aniki's orders." Vodka replied steadily as he pointed his gun at Vermouth. "Were you her contact?"

Vermouth giggled as she flipped a loose strand of hair over her shoulder. "She thought that I was, the stupid girl." She replied airily. "Burn her body, just to be safe. You can frisk me too, if you want."

Vodka scowled, knowing that he had been defeated. Even if they had all their agents search, none of them would find even a whisper of Vermouth's existence. "No, that's unnecessary." He replied, irritated. "But if you do betray us..."

"Then Boss-chan will take care of me." Vermouth shrugged. "Right?"

Vodka's lips pressed together tightly but he dipped his head into a nod and put away his gun. "I'll dispose of the body." He offered. "You take care of the report."

"Of course." Vermouth purred as Vodka picked up the corpse. When he finally went out of sight, Vermouth sighed, "You can come out now, Brandy-chan."

Brandy stepped out, a neat silver suitcase in her hand. "Thanks, Vermouth." She smiled. "You're a lifesaver."

"Literally." Vermouth rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you should be more careful. That stunt double nearly found out that we were planning to kill her, you know."

Brandy scowled. "It doesn't matter anymore." She replied briskly. "Do you have my disguise? That rotten detective Mouri is getting in my way. I can tell by the way he's been avoiding the press lately—I need to eliminate him from this equation."

"Yes, yes." Vermouth tossed Brandy a small parcel and a neatly starched uniform. "Just pretend to deliver this to a 'Kuroba Kaito' and it should take care of itself. I've already set the timer, and the bomb will only destroy about three stories. It's stronger on one side than the other, so it won't be tracked down to a bomb that specifically targeted Mouri-san."

Brandy smiled as she pulled the uniform over her head. "Thanks again, Vermouth-san. Now that the unpleasant talk is over, do you know who my new test subject is? These cute little test subjects from Bukodan are so very interesting..."

0o0o0o0o0

Conan had spent a long time debating whether or not he should tell Kaito about his shrinking problem. For one thing, telling Kaito put him in a lot of danger, and was the more illogical option. But for another thing, explaining about the Black Organization and their schemes without explaining his 'little problem' (as Doc Agasa liked to joke) was quite difficult.

He finally decided that some things were better left unsaid, and left those little tidbits out. When Kaito questioned some parts, he gave a vague, flippant answer that he knew wasn't enough to satisfy the thief, but they both had their secrets, so he knew that Kaito would accept it, however frustrating.

And if Kaito did decide to look into it—well, Conan couldn't exactly hold it against him, since he himself was also planning to look into Kaito's secrets.

It was frustrating, being able to act normal, and yet still having to pretend. He was sick of pretending, sick of being stuck in this body.

He shoved back the thought that if those children really _had_ been temporarily turned into adults, then maybe a permanent solution could be found for him…

Conan was shoved out of his thoughts by the doorbell ringing. Ran, who had been reading a book while he watched mind numbing cartoons, looked up and sighed. She put down her book and opened the door, surprised when a young girl's voice called out hesitantly, "A delivery for someone named… Kuroba Kaito?"

Ran's mouth rounded in surprise before she accepted the small parcel. "I'll give this to him." She assured the delivery girl as she signed a piece of paper.

"Thanks!" The delivery girl chirped as Ran returned the paper.

"Do you need me to do anything else?" Ran asked curiously.

The girl shook her head and smiled sweetly. "No, it's all right." She replied cheerily. "Thank you for choosing our company! I hope you choose us again for your next delivery!"

Ran nodded. "Thanks." She offered as the delivery girl left and she shut the door. Peering curiously at the parcel, she called out, "Kaito-kun! There's a delivery for you!"

Kaito skipped down the stairs, a puzzled expression gracing his features before they smoothed back out and he accepted the parcel with a charming, "Thank you, Ran-chan!" He kissed the back of her hand before shrugging on a jacket and yelling, "I'm going to the park!"

Ran nodded. "I'll tell Aoko-chan." She replied, before her forehead creased, and she asked, "Kaito, would you mind taking Conan with you? I forgot I had some business later—and Conan can't stay home alone."

Conan, who had been playing a video game on his phone, looked up, his eyes wide and panicked. "Yes, that's a great idea, Ran-neechan." He agreed, his voice sounding odd as he tucked his phone away. "Kaito-niichan and I are going to go now, okay?"

The boy wrapped his hand around Kaito's and tugged on it insistently and dragging the older boy out before Ran could reply or Kaito could protest.

As they skipped down the stairs, Conan snatched the parcel from Kaito's hands. "What did you order?" He groaned. "It's so small, too."

Kaito frowned. "I didn't order anything but a Starter Magician pack." He replied. "And this is too big to be it. The pack I ordered should be half this size."

Conan shot him a look of irritation, before mumbling, "I don't have time to listen to you talk about how you thought your magic whatever pack would be smaller. Apparently there's going to be a bomb at Tokyo Tower—oh, but I've got to get Jody before that…" He growled in frustration. "What's happening?"

"You tell me." Kaito replied with a roll of his eyes. He pulled out a small knife and neatly slit a line in the parcel before opening it absentmindedly. "Who's this Jody, and why are you calling her before calling the police? If there's going to be a bomb, shouldn't they already be defusing it and evacuating? Why do you need to be there?"

Conan scowled. "No police! They can't know about this! You _can't_ tell them! As for Jody… I tell you on the way."

"How do you know before the police did?" Kaito asked curiously.

Conan shoved his phone at Kaito. _3, 2, 1. Tokyo Tower's going to blow in 3 minutes, Kudo-kun._ "If she's sending this to me, then something big must be happening." He muttered, his eyes darkening. "But what…? Is she being serious, or is this a trap… is it another one of her ploys?"

"Who?" Kaito asked as he pulled off the wrapping, before freezing. "Wait, no, never mind who." He handed Conan a pack of cards. "Whoever sent that to you, did she know that you would go to Tokyo Tower if she sent that to you?"

Conan blinked. "Yes." He replied. "Probably."

"Would she have known that _I_ would be there with you?" Kaito asked.

Conan shook his head. "I don't think so." He replied. "She can't predict my every move, and me taking you was on a whim. I usually wouldn't have even thought of it."

Kaito narrowed his eyes. "Then, does she care about you?" He asked. "If, per say, there was a bomb about to blow, and you could have been killed, would she have told you?"

Conan stopped. "Yes." He breathed. "Wait… no. She would have told me that a bomb or murder was going to happen somewhere else because she knows that if I knew a bomb would blow near me I'd care more about evacuating and diffusing than running away."

He paused and paled as he stared at the pack of cards in his hands. "Kaito, this is way heavier than the average 52 card pack that is should be. _What's in here_?"

Kaito swallowed. "I think," He replied slowly, "That you're holding the bomb that she was talking about."

 **A/N:** Late, short, AND bad. Wow, could this get any worse? Probably not. Go on and throw rotten tomatoes at me, I deserved it…


	8. Chapter 8

"Ai-chan." Doc Agasa knocked lightly on the doorframe and held up a cup of hot chocolate. "I made some hot chocolate and was wondering if you wanted some."

"Oh, thank you." Ai nodded as she shoved some papers together and gestured towards an empty spot on the desk. "Could you just set it there, Professor?"

Agasa offered her a look of concern, but nodded and set down the cup. He turned to leave, but paused at the doorframe. "Ai-kun… are you alright?" He asked. "You seem tired. Maybe you should rest."

"I'm fine." Ai replied wearily as she rubbed her eyes. "Thank you for the concern, though. I just need to narrow the places down so that Kudo-kun can find those missing children, and once I've got them narrowed down some more I'll let Subaru-san help me out."

"Subaru-kun can help you _now_." Agasa pressed. "Why don't you get his help _now_?"

Ai shook her head. "He's busy with other parts of this case, like why _they_ would do this. He wants to find some possible motives, so I can't show him until tomorrow."

"Then just rest for today." Agasa suggested. "Let me help you finish the work."

Ai offered the doctor a tight smile, and shook her head. "Thank you for the offer, but it's alright. I would hate to trouble you."

"Nonsense." Agasa laughed as he sat down. "How do we get started?"

Ai sighed in defeat, but the small smile that broke through gave her away. "Well, I have five main areas that I think are most likely…"

0o0o0o0o0o0

Conan didn't waste time on being shocked before he crouched down and slowly slid the card box out of the cover and tossed a small cell phone at Kaito. "Call the contact named 'Jody' and tell her we have a mini bomb, most likely contains mercury, estimated to have a 50 meter explosion radius but possibly more."

Kaito saluted teasingly. "Aye aye, captain." He replied cheerfully as he hit speed dial and put the phone on speaker.

For a moment there was the sound of crackling before a quiet voice demanded, "Cool Kid, what's up? I'm kind of on a mission right now. Is it urgent?"

Conan remained silent, so Kaito jumped in. "Conan-chan is a bit tied up right now." He explained cheerfully. "He's trying to disable a bomb, most likely contains mercury, and is estimated to have a minimum of a 50 meter explosion radius."

"It's also waterproof." Conan added. "I just wanted to know where I could get some bomb diffusing items, and whether or not the mercury poison would be spread if we dumped the bomb in a river."

"My old apartment has some items." Jody replied. "I keep a hairpin in the mailbox, so you can let yourself in."

"A hairpin instead of a key!" Kaito brightened. "I think I like this girl!"

"Yes, that's cute." Jody replied sharply, still whispering. "Cool Kid, do you mind if I hang up now? I told them that you were my fiancé, and they're starting to get suspicious."

"Fiancé?" Kaito choked. "Why would you need to lie to whoever you're with?"

"Bye, Jody-sensei." Conan sighed as he closed the call.

"Why did she tell whoever she's with that you're her _fiancé_?" Kaito paused. "You're not her fiancé, right? Because I know that you've very mature for you're age and all, but you know, she's and older woman and…"

"Kaito, please shut up." Conan groaned.

Kaito stuck out his tongue and hummed as loudly as he could, before wondering, "How many secrets do you have, Co-chan?" His dark eyes met with Conan's and he pressed, "I know you have at least one of your own. Now I know you also have Jody-chan's. How many more secrets do you have?"

Conan stood up. "We should head to Jody-sensei's home." He mumbled. "There's an extremely fragile wire here… one wrong step and the whole thing goes up."

Kaito stared at him for a long time, before asking, "When did you start living with Ran?"

Conan frowned. "What makes you think I'm not her younger brother?"

Kaito snorted. "Oh, please. I've seen girls with younger brothers—Ran tries to act like an older sister, but she's not. It's obvious that you haven't lived with each other for very long."

"Why do you need to know?"

"Why do you need to hide it?"

Conan gave Kaito the date.

"Thanks, Co-chan." The magician had a strange glint in his eyes as he stood up and grinned widely. "By the way, are you done diffusing the bomb yet?"

0o0o0o0

Kaito's heart hammered violently as he tried to grin harmlessly at his attacker. "Aw, you know, it's not all that polite to point a gun at someone." He noted teasingly. "Don't you know that it's not good material for a first date? First you got to take me out to dinner, that kind of stuff. You can't just kill me right away!"

"You know too much." The pale haired man replied. "Brandy, what's your call?"

The woman who had been watching over the kids looked over and smiled sweetly. "Kill him, Bourbon." She decided. "But make sure he screams."

 _Conan, hurry up and get that backup you were talking about!_ Kaito swallowed. How had he gotten himself into this situation again…?

 **A few hours ago….**

" _It's the abandoned warehouse!" Ai downed the last of her hot chocolate as she laughed. "We've finally found it!"_

 _Agasa burst into laughter. "We have found it!" He agreed happily. "Now all we have to do is call the police, and…"_

" _No." Conan's voice cut in like a knife as he shrugged on his jacket, eyes dark. "We can't go to the police, not when the Black Org is involved—it's too risky."_

 _Kaito eyed Conan warily. "Then what do you suggest?" He asked._

" _I'll call some friends." Conan replied. "You just stay put, and—"_

" _Stay put?" Kaito echoed disbelievingly. "No way! I'm the great Kaito Kid! I don't 'stay put'—I tell others to stay put! I go where the action is! I can help you out!"_

 _Conan and Ai exchanged impatient glances, but Conan nodded. "Alright." He agreed. "I'll be a decoy while you get my contacts—"_

" _That will take too long." Kaito interrupted. "I'll be the decoy while you contact them and swoop in to save the day, 'kay, Conan-chan?"_

" _No, that's too dangerous…"_

" _Let me help." Kaito cut in. "You contact them. I'll be at the warehouse."_

 _Conan opened his mouth to protest, but shut it when he realized that Kaito was already halfway around the room. "At least take your cell phone." He sighed. "In case you get caught."_

 _Kaito merely grinned, and skipped out to the warehouse._

 **Real time…**

Kaito closed his eyes. _Trust in Conan, trust in Conan…_

Then the sound of a bullet being shot reached his ears and it was all he could do to hold back the scream of shock that threatened to burst out of his lips. He opened his eyes and gaped when he saw Brandy lying motionless on the floor.

"Wha—?"

Bourbon tucked his gun away. "Well, that went much more smoothly than expected." He mused. "Vermouth said that this would be easy, but I didn't expect it to be _this_ easy…"

"You—what—?"

Bourbon grinned. "The kid called in a favor, and it seemed fun. So I agreed!"

"That was fast." Kaito mused. "Waaay too fast…"

Bourban shrugged. "That's just how life works." He replied. "Now help me free the children."

0o0o0o0

Kaito found out Conan's true identity, and then he and Aoko left shortly after.

The kids returned home, and they stayed their proper ages. None of them seemed to remember much of what happened.

Conan, to his frustration, remained his age.

Life continued.

 **A/N:** Well, that was short. And bad. And I'm probably going to get all of you flaming me… but this is over! Fini! Done! HAHAHAHAHAHA—cough cough—sorry…


End file.
